If there were a Mount Rushmore for transgender activism, Vanessa Edwards Foster’s face would be chiseled into the stone, probably mid-speech, passionately lobbying a senator who just realized he’s woefully outmatched. A seasoned activist, a relentless advocate, and a veteran of the political trenches, Vanessa has spent decades fighting for transgender rights, knocking on doors (sometimes having them slammed in her face), and ensuring that the voices of Trans people aren’t just heard but taken seriously.
As the board chair of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC), Vanessa has been at the forefront of the movement, navigating the tangled web of Washington politics with a mix of tenacity, humor, and an unshakable sense of purpose. She’s lobbied the U.S. government more times than she can probably count, pressing for policy changes that affirm and protect transgender lives. And let’s not forget her pioneering leadership as the first transgender individual elected president of a chapter of the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) in Harris County, Texas. If breaking barriers were an Olympic sport, Vanessa would be a gold medalist.
But activism wasn’t exactly in her blood. In fact, she initially saw politics as something best avoided, an arena full of “plastic people” and empty promises. However, life had other plans. When her own transition led to unemployment and systemic discrimination, she realized that waiting for someone else to champion transgender rights was not an option. With no one stepping up, she did what any accidental revolutionary would do, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work.
From the late ‘90s to today, Vanessa has witnessed, and shaped, the evolution of transgender activism in America. She’s seen the victories, the setbacks, the infighting, and the slow, frustrating crawl toward progress. Through it all, she’s remained steadfast, guided by the belief that change isn’t handed down, it’s fought for, one conversation, one protest, and one piece of legislation at a time.
Monika: So, what keeps her going? What has she learned from decades of advocacy? And what does she see as the future of the transgender rights movement? Let’s find out. Hello Vanessa!
Vanessa: Ooh, wow. Was this the original post from back in the day? This sounds like it’s currently the case, which it is not! In reality, NTAC (and I, primarily) threw in the towel in 2009, the same year GenderPAC did as well. NCTE supplanted us in 2009, as they were the choice of the Human Rights Campaign, and my goal was to see the Trans community collectively unified rather than fractured. It’s come to my attention that somehow Mara Keisling was terminated as head of the group (which she alone founded), and in subsequent years, the group has folded or morphed into a collaboration with TLDEF. From my personal perspective, it seems we’re maybe as fractured, and certainly much more voiceless than even in 2009 (recent election of Sarah McBride notwithstanding).
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| "It’s always a surprise when people try to put me on a pedestal." |
Monika: But there must have been something that truly resonated with you, something that sparked a sense of purpose, even if you didn’t actively seek the spotlight?
Vanessa: The only things I did seek out were newsletter editor for TATS (Texas Association for Transsexual Support) and, since I had experience with it, Media Director for NTAC, as well as my initial outreach to Rice University’s psychology department to educate on Trans issues around 1997. All else was due to other people’s urgings, nominations, or suggestions. Being “in the spotlight” was never my comfort zone.
As you alluded to above, my goal at the outset was to go “stealth” and not to be involved in politics or protests, much less becoming “the face of the Trans community!” My preference was living quietly and having a personal life, which I still feel I got cheated out of due to losing my job three weeks into HRT and being stuck in “not-male but not-female” limbo. Phyllis Frye and Sarah DePalma were happy to have me join in activism, but I was not! The reasons I spoke up when asked were to keep us (whichever group) from being embarrassed and to avoid making myself look like a tongue-tied fool in the process!
Monika: Let’s hop in a time machine and head back to the late ‘90s.
The Wonderbra was turning A-cup girls into bombshells overnight, and suddenly, cleavage was mandatory. Matching bra and panty sets became the law, as if we all had a personal stylist inspecting our underwear drawers. Long-wear lipstick promised kiss-proof color but mostly left lips drier than the Sahara.
Sex and the City had every woman debating if she was a Carrie, a Samantha, a Charlotte, or a Miranda, while the Spice Girls made 'Girl Power' an actual movement (and friend groups were required to assign themselves a Spice Girl, whether they liked it or not). The term 'glass ceiling' became mainstream, but instead of breaking it, women just got better at passive-aggressive office emails.
Female CEOs were still so rare that spotting one made national news. Meanwhile, the ‘mommy wars’ raged on, forcing women to justify daycare or staying home, while nobody bothered asking dads anything.
And in the middle of all this, you were stepping into activism, was there ever a moment where you thought, 'What on earth have I gotten myself into?'
Vanessa: Actually, I wasn’t much into monitoring or watching TV/movies, etc. (other than South Park in its early years – now you know my mentality!). While I probably should’ve been more into monitoring fashion, I honestly didn’t. Due to personal economics, I was usually buying the cheapest things I could find that I liked from high-end retailers like Target or resale shops, ha! Either that, or my leftover '80s finds that I bought by mail – Frederick’s of Hollywood and Avon Fashions. Once I was finally employed a couple of years later, I did begin my business wear phase. Overall, though, I never really had a “style” and wasn’t much concerned with it.
Socially, I took my cues mostly from my mom or sisters or female co-workers. To this day, I’ve never seen Sex and the City, nor heard Spice Girls music (I had tons of LPs – but mostly rock or eclectic variations of it). And when I did finally get around to buying a “Wonder-Bra,” I was about five years into transition! For whatever genetic reason, I always had bone cleavage in my chest cavity – almost 2 inches – and my HRT took off at warp speed anyway.
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| Eva Herzigova’s Iconic Wonderbra Ad – Hello Boys (1994) |
Monika: Is it true that you were practically shoved into activism when hormones worked their magic faster than expected, and the job market showed its true colors?
Vanessa: Yes, I was an anomaly on all counts! As I’ve never gone through counseling, I relied on my friends in our TATS group for guidance and to shape my expectations. Every one of them said the same thing: my breasts would reach “maybe” an A cup in a year, and if I was lucky, I might be a B cup in two years! That’s what I relied on, at my own peril. Literally, I was at a B cup in two months – not years – and was still working as my male self! Wearing a shirt and tie every day at work, I now had problems hiding my tie hanging in a valley between two newly-formed breasts! About three months in, my accounting manager and the corporate VP sat me down for a meeting: “Resign, or we will fire you.” At least I got unemployment for agreeing to resign, but the career damage was done, and I had nothing to fall back on afterward. It was a rude awakening and completely altered my chosen life course post-transition.
The second bomb dropped when Sarah DePalma, the ED of both It’s Time America and TGAIN (Texas Gender Advocacy & Information Network – the statewide Trans lobbying group), suddenly resigned a few months after I was terminated. She was my only hope, as she’d been trying for years to get a name/gender change bill submitted and passed, so we could bypass needing a court order and the associated attorney fees and court costs, which I didn’t have! I found out the news first, as I happened to bring her some of my brisket BBQ I’d made that day. After hearing the news, I kept sharing it with all our Houston area Trans groups in hopes that someone would take up the torch and run with it. After failing to get any takers, I resigned myself to do it, even though I had no experience nor desire for any of it. Thankfully, I was a quick study.
Monika: When the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) was founded in 1999 as a federal-level lobbying and advocacy organization, were you already an experienced lobbyist at that time? You had already worked with the Texas Association for Transsexual Support (TATS), hadn’t you?
Vanessa: While I began attending TATS in mid-1995 (and started HRT on Nov. 30 of that year), it was a local support group, not an activism function. In 1997, I took over TATS newsletter duties and helped make it a success.
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| "I began lobbying in Washington in 1997." |
Monika: But despite your initial reluctance, you still ended up getting involved with GenderPAC. What convinced you to take that step?
Vanessa: For whatever reason, two of the folks at the ICTLEP lobby days, Dawn Wilson and Anne Casebeer, called and practically begged me to go with them to GenderPAC, even buying my airfare and matching me with another new activist, Sarah Fox, to room in with – against my desires at that time.
The second time, the lobbying bug stuck. Sarah and I were the only two Trans people left after the GenderPAC event finished, and we were the only ones who lobbied on behalf of Cong. Tom Lantos’ first-ever Trans-inclusive bill addressing global hate crimes against LGB and, finally, T people worldwide! At least I came away with a sense of accomplishment, even if the bill died. Sarah, Dawn, Anne, and I became four of the seven eventual co-founders of NTAC two years later at my second trip to GenderPAC’s DC lobby days (along with Cathy Platine of Ohio, and Monica Roberts and Jessica Redman, also of TATS in Houston).
Monika: The NTAC initially focused on advocating for the inclusion of transgender rights in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). My older sisters and mentors always told me that having a stable job is essential for a smooth transition. Was that the key motivation behind pushing for ENDA?
Vanessa: Absolutely! As mentioned, that’s why I did not have a stable transition. And it wasn’t just me discovering it immediately, but a few others in my TATS group who also suffered through joblessness and income insecurity. It’s long been a recurring theme in our community nationwide. But it wasn’t the only factor. Statewide, my focus was on getting the name/gender change bill in Texas – which sadly never came to pass. But statewide and nationally, hate crimes prevention also became a priority, and something with a modicum of success.
In 1999, I took a couple of gay friends on their first lobbying visit in Austin to the office of Rep. Warren Chisum – a rock-ribbed conservative and author of nearly all the anti-GLBT legislation in that era. Listening to his arguments during our visit, I asked if he would support the James Byrd Hate Crimes bill with his choice of nomenclature for us (sexual ‘preference’ and gender ‘non-conformity’) and, to my astonishment, he agreed! Sadly, LGRL lobbied us out of the bill, but it passed with “sexual preference” still in it! Ten years later, I revisited him to support an addendum to it with “gender non-conformity,” and Chisum agreed to it again! Strangely, he was the only one of eight friends I had in the legislature that year (the other seven were Democrats), but we developed a friendship over our mutual adversary, Equality Texas.
Monika: You mentioned earlier how NTAC’s work at the local level began to shift things. What do you think sparked the momentum for those changes to really take hold on a national scale?
Vanessa: On the national front, NTAC’s participation in hate crimes vigils for victims and our press releases on the individual incidents became what truly changed the game for us. It gave me the opportunity to work with Sylvia Rivera on the Amanda Milan vigils, including interviewing her on KPFT’s After Hours: Trans in America segment, and a week later speaking and marching in the vigil itself across the street from Stonewall Inn to New York’s City Hall. We made sure that second vigil, right before the murder trial, was a success!
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ABC7 Originals documentary "Being Gwen: A Life and Death Story" (via ABC7). |
The one hate murder that made the biggest impact on public sentiment was Gwen Araujo. The morning after the initial reporting, I was able to contact an aunt, Imelda Guerrero, and an uncle, David Guerrero, and discovered they were both very supportive and loved Gwen as she was. Gwen’s mother, Sylvia, did as well, but was far too distraught to interview at that time. Having those two immediately available for quotes (along with two other aunts, Emma and Lupe Guerrero) and able to provide NTAC quotes and be available to the press at large was truly a game-changer in humanizing Trans victims and the Trans community at large for the first time ever! Prior to that, our hate crimes victims were constantly misgendered, deadnamed, and labeled (without proof) as “possibly sex workers” and summarily dismissed. The Guerrero family spoke in unison after Araujo’s death and forcefully denied the prevalent “throw-away sex worker” stereotypes many had settled on for decades. It showed that families did indeed love and support their Trans family members – something that society at large could relate to!
Monika: NTAC was founded by a group of remarkable Trans activists, including Dawn Wilson, Anne Casebeer, Sarah Fox, Cathy Platine, Jessica Redman, Monica Roberts, JoAnn Roberts, and yourself. Sadly, Monica Roberts and JoAnn Roberts are no longer with us. Do you remember meeting them for the first time?
Vanessa: Of course! Monica Roberts was one of our local group members (both GCTC & TATS) and had preceded me into both groups. In fact, in 1999 I took Monica around with me and showed her the ropes, how to lobby, keeping an ear open for “meet the congressman/senator” events, and how to spot and buttonhole congress critters as they walked the halls of Congress. She picked up on it quickly, as she and I spotted Ronald Payne (D-NJ) walking in a little before 7am, and began our conversation with each other – drawing Payne into asking about our “legislation” wants! It was Monica’s first-ever face-to-face with a congressman, and we enjoyed a good half hour visit before we had to leave. Jessica Redman was another who moved down to Houston and joined both TATS & GCTC around 1998.
END OF PART 1
All photos: courtesy of Vanessa Edwards Foster, unless otherwise noted.
© 2025 - Monika Kowalska
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